Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-05-14
FLOWERS AND POETS.
nv ANNA oLcorr coNNkLlN.

he's shown 10 how the development and
growth Of . little plant, with IL buds and
fioweFS, saved from weary lansuishing the
poor prisoner Of Fensstrelle restored his
rsason, health and life and In the end,
brought 10 him iriendshin liberty and Iowa
without claiming that oil howerA Ia oil CIR.
cumssancea, can accomplish no much - thia /
let NJ consider them In their relation 70
human life, and the inspiration that they |
have given 70 poetA "Fbctd mascifWr, NON
IT." says the proverb, and In the mind Of |
every one possessed OF the poetic IRE 10 born |
the love Of beauty. Says Wordsworth;
To me the meanest dower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too dcep for tears."
The kindly fruits Of the earth" minister
10 our corporeal needs, besides giving pleas
ure to the eye, hut flowers are almost human
In their association with the dearest and
hottest sacraments OF life. They 20 With the
bride to the altar, and We lay them beside our
sacred dead when We dress them for their
last lsng sleep
Says Longfellow:
4" Bear luy In thy hand.
Gates of brSss cannot withstand
One touch OF that magic wand"
"Sweets to the sweet" says Queen Ger.
trude, when she scatters flowers over Opho.
las lifeless form. Says Browning, "do not
the dead wear flowers, when dressed for
6Ode'
From the frst chill days Of early spring,
when the delicate anemone rises from the
wintry ground. until the last frail little watf
Of violet, In bleak December, how magnin.
cent and varied IL the procession Of beauty.
says Oberon
IL know . bank where the Wild thyme blows
Snss aSS sSs 1Ss;
With sweet musk roses and with eglAntine."
Mira whitney expresses our feeling in the
return Of the flowers We have loved in her
lines:
When the spring winds blows DER the pleasant
The same dear things un up the same fair
The violet Is here"
When We read that the violet-our violet
WAS known In the time of Homer, We think
| OF the fAvorite poem OF Lincoln, and the
| lines:
1--WE see the same things our fathers have seem,
In Cowper's TRANSLATION from Homer We
| read:
.es,s ysaas.s Ss!s'ss ssss:5ss Ssa
With violets; twas q scene to fi
| god from heaven with wonder and delight"
Lady wilkinson, In her book on flowers,
/ gives many interesting pafticulars concern
ing the violet 1t must have been gre atty in
favor with the Romans, she tells ua - they
called their days set apart for decking
graves, "Dies Fiolarts." Pliny thought
advised that garlsnds Of them should be
worn on the head. Different varieties of this
flower grow In many parts Of America, Pal.
estine. China. Japan, Europe, and even on
scum at Rome It's praises We are told, have
been written In many languages Aboo
RumL an Eastern poet eays "it II not .
Hover; il is an emerald, bearing . purple
| gem" The Arabs, 1t IN said, compare the
eye OF . beautiful woman to . violet Homer
| spseks OF Venus - crowned with violets, and
Theocritus thought that these iowers were
specially desirable for wreathA Aristo-
| phanes spoke OF Athens - ''violet crowned" !"
| and DiosCorides makes mention OF the flower.
In modern times this fsvorits, with il mean.
ingA OF truth, modesty and love, u spoken OF
by Shelley, in these lines:
"Lnlies for . bridal bed.
Roses for Q matrOn's head,
violets for . maiden dead"
Daisies are found 20 universally that {
British poet calls them "the consolidated
flowers that never set"
Chaucer says:
"Above all nouris in the mede
Than love thess fiouri. white and rede.
Such that men calea daisies In our town."
In his legend OF " Gude Women" he giyes
epoetical version Of the origin Of the daisy
1t II pleasant to know that Linp@us himsel
, may have inherited . love Of flowers from
i his father, but when We read Q botanical
definition OF daisy - . "scaps one
lowered, with leaves spathulate, single
faction TO Burns in his address to the " we<
modest, crimson.tipped flower"
Wordsworth says:
"Methinks that there abidee with thee
Some concord with humanity,
The forest through"
Sweet, and tender and sad are the sssocis
tions Of the daisy with the frail genius OF the
poet Keats. who knew not OF the Immortality
that time would bring him, when he com
posed his own epitaph, and felt only few
days before his death, the "dsisiss growing
Lucy Lsrcom, In our own day, writes
gracefully OF "golden daisies: :"
"Disk of bronze and ray OF gold
Siimmering % through the meadow srasses
BSrdly M should s S hola Ri:"Ssis yoa s.i2. passes
but tor her, the maiden rare,
Who, amid your starry mRzss,
Makes you splendid with her praises"
The "Fiowers OF the Fallow" ID anothe,
lovely poem by this writer:
81 like those plants that you call weeds.
TS.g 1T1Sdgg: nHrdhse1: ~, ,hn;c s muii4, ysrfox:
Where any grassy Wheel-trsck leads
i through country by.xsy. narrow.
crown old with cultivation,
Sila S",a1. .ssin Of ,I:tie
The nrst days OF creation"
1t IL hard to refrain from quoting ali th,
, verses, but We have cullings from many su-
thors In . ield which com prises oil lands snt
all sges, and where the only embarrassment
10 one OF nchea To mention the name o.
Bryant 10 TO bring up host OF tender AND
beautiful associations Of poetry and natures
charmA Ono hardly knows which to love
bost the golden rod which suggested thu
| verse OF his poem, or the verse which haa
immortalized the golden rod. The lines ~
| 10 familiar TO all that some les known bu
we'll worth knowing will be moro sppropri
ate 70 INTRODUCES here BY Jennie Max well
| Paine,
/ "Open the bars ana make me room,.
Let me wade waistdeep. in the yellow bloom
Let me revel at Will. let me gather my I'LL.
Let me touch their plumss with reveren,
| stands.
With the pomp of gold in the glowing lands.
Zine as feather and soft as down
Hio pstaled plume-the very crown
Of the fair and the nne and the rare design!
/ xair - the ore. when wrought and rolled,
Fine - the fretting Of nlagree sold,"
| When We read OF the thistle Of Scotland,
the feur. de-lis of France, with the daisy q
the badge Of the beautiful province Of Ian.
guedFe, and the rose OF England, We could
wish that the posseosion Of Q national dornl
emblem were ours, though the choics Of one
"brtght c0nsummate flower" would b st-
tended with difficulties Here In the
length and breadth Of our own America with
IT. wealth OF flowers, one can think Of none
1 n national IN QhaPa md In S>Ah